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A Fourth Cheer
My thanks to my readers on the blog’s fourth birthday Yesterday, this blog turned four. Its fourth year has, I am afraid, been marked by occasional periods of extended silence, as was trying to finish my dissertation. Still, I have managed to come back every time, and to keep going. I have also got some… Continue reading
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Events Next Week
I’ll be visiting McGill and Yale next week. Come say hello! Next Tuesday, the 29th, I’ll be taking part in a discussion on “Conscience and the Constitution in Canada” at the McGill Faculty of Law (specifically, in NCDH 101). I will be speaking on the conflict between freedom of conscience and state authority, in particular as… Continue reading
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Ideologies in the Marketplace of Ideas
The “marketplace of ideologies” is neither new nor quite disastrous In a post over at Concurring Opinions, Ronald K.L. Collins laments what he regards as the rise, in the place of the good old marketplace of ideas, of a “marketplace of ideologies.” Prof. Collins writes that in this new marketplace, ideas, facts, “the constitutional process of governing,” and… Continue reading
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R.I.P., Antonin Scalia
How I will remember him I don’t know if Justice Antonin Scalia, of the U.S. Supreme Court, read, or liked, Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita ― it was, no doubt, much too unorthodox for him, although he would at least have agreed with its insistence that we at least believe that the devil exists. But as… Continue reading
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See You in 2016
With the announcement of the Clawbies’ 2015 winners, the blogging year is at an end. Paul Daly’s Administrative Law Matters is the overdue and most worthy winner of the Fodden Award for the Best Canadian Law Blog. And Double Aspect is a runner-up for the Fodden (which it won last year, to my continuing amazement). It’s… Continue reading
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#Clawbies2015
What happens in December that’s in better taste than ugly sweaters and more reliable than snow? The Clawbies, of course! They are, in case you don’t know, a “celebration of excellence in law-related blogging in Canada (and beyond).” In that celebratory spirit, here are my nominations for this year’s awards, and also some other blog recommendations.… Continue reading
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Upcoming Talks
Just a quick note about two presentations I’ll be giving in the next couple of weeks. The first one will be this Friday, at Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law, at 11:30AM. I’ll be one of the presenters (the other one being Hoi Kong, of McGill’s Faculty of Law) at a “Constitutional Moments” event called “Gouvernements minoritaires… Continue reading
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Stare decisis stricto sensu c. Strickland (c. Canada): connaissons-nous bien la portée des jugements de la Cour fédérale?
Dans l’arrêt Strickland c. Canada (Procureur général) du 9 juillet dernier, arrêt que mon hôte a brillamment commenté sous d’autres aspects, le juge Cromwell, dans des motifs majoritaires non contredits sur cette question par les motifs concordants des juges Abella et Wagner, a soutenu «qu’aucune cour supérieure provinciale ne serait liée» (par. 53) par un jugement… Continue reading
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The Harm in a Hate Speech Bill
Last week, I criticized Québec’s Bill 59, which would notably introduce a very broad prohibition on “hate speech” in provincial law. This morning, the CBA National Magazine’s blog publishes an English version of some of my criticisms, focusing on one of the bill’s unique aspects, the inclusion of “political convictions” in the list of “prohibited… Continue reading
Double Aspect 